Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute, in Collaboration with University of Science and Technology of China, Develops CryoSIM Platform, Published in Top Analytical Chemistry Journal Revolutionizing Oocyte Membrane Permeability Analysis Technology
Release time:
2026-03-04
Recently, a collaborative research effort between the Low-Temperature Medicine Team of Shandong Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute and Professor Zhao Gang's team from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has achieved significant progress. The findings have been published in the internationally renowned analytical chemistry journal Analytica Chimica Acta (Impact Factor: 6.0 for 2024-2025, JCR Q1 zone, and Top Journal in the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Category 1 for Analytical Chemistry). This research received support from the National Key Research and Development Program (2023YFF0713900) and the Anhui Provincial Clinical Medical Research Transformation Project (202204295107020002).
The team successfully developed the CryoSIM platform, an intelligent microfluidics and deep learning-integrated system. This platform deeply integrates core technologies of deep learning and microfluidics to enable high-throughput, high-precision automated analysis of oocyte membrane permeability. It provides a novel technological tool for optimizing and advancing the clinical translation of oocyte cryopreservation techniques. Additionally, it offers an innovative practical paradigm for the application of artificial intelligence in low-temperature biomedicine and reproductive medicine.
Breakthrough in Oocyte Membrane Permeability Analysis
Oocyte cryopreservation is a key technology in assisted reproduction and fertility preservation. Accurately measuring cell membrane hydraulic conductivity (Lp) and cryoprotectant permeability (Ps) is fundamental to optimizing cryopreservation protocols and minimizing cryodamage to oocytes. However, due to the large size and low permeability of oocytes to cryoprotectants, traditional manual analysis methods face significant bottlenecks. These include analysis times of 45–60 minutes per oocyte, low research efficiency, and subjective manual operations leading to measurement coefficients of variation as high as 15–25%, which severely compromises data reliability and hinders research progress.
The introduction of the CryoSIM platform fills the technological gap in automated permeability analysis in the field of cryobiology, achieving a dual breakthrough in efficiency and accuracy. The platform reduces the entire analysis process for a single oocyte to under 5 minutes, increases throughput by over 90%, and lowers the measurement coefficient of variation to below 3%, fundamentally addressing the challenges of traditional methods.
Core Innovations: Deep Integration of Microfluidics, AI, and Automated Analysis
Innovative Design of Intelligent Microfluidic Chips: The team developed a chip featuring a Y-shaped perfusion channel, serrated flow paths, and parabolic micropillar arrays. This design allows simultaneous capture of up to eight oocytes, minimizing fluid shear stress to protect cell integrity while establishing stable and controllable cryoprotectant concentration gradients. The cell survival rate after processing with this chip reaches as high as 94%.
Development of a Deep Learning Image Analysis Model: The independently developed MLSNet deep learning model is specifically optimized for bright-field microscopy images. By integrating residual attention mechanisms and multi-branch convolutional pathways, it achieves pixel-level segmentation accuracy of 98.7%, with single-frame image processing taking only 23 milliseconds. This represents over 90% improvement in efficiency compared to manual segmentation.
Construction of an Automated Parameter Analysis Platform: A Python-developed graphical user interface integrates a dual-parameter model and the Kedem-Katchalsky biophysical transport model. This platform automatically extracts core parameters such as Lp and Ps, enabling complex data fitting without requiring specialized programming skills. It establishes an intelligent workflow encompassing "experimental operation-image recognition-parameter calculation," significantly lowering the barrier to technological application.
To validate the platform's performance, the research team conducted systematic studies on mouse oocytes using CryoSIM. Under temperature conditions ranging from 4°C to 37°C and cryoprotectant concentration gradients of 0.5–2.0M, the platform accurately revealed changes in oocyte membrane permeability across different environments, providing a crucial theoretical foundation for optimizing cryopreservation protocols.
The CryoSIM platform's application potential can be extended to various cell types, including human oocytes, sperm, and stem cells. It holds broad prospects in fields such as fertility preservation, fundamental cryobiology research, and drug delivery, marking China's achievement of internationally advanced levels in cell cryopreservation analysis technology.
Expert Voices
Liu Zhicheng, Vice President of Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute, stated: "Basic research is the source of technological innovation. This in-depth collaboration with USTC represents a successful attempt at the cross-disciplinary integration of artificial intelligence and fundamental cryobiology research. In the future, Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute will continue to deepen industry-academia-research collaboration with top universities like USTC, steadily accumulate robust experimental data and core technological reserves, promote the clinical translation of cryobiology technologies, and support the advancement of China's fundamental low-temperature medicine research to higher levels."
Latest developments
The team successfully developed the CryoSIM platform, an intelligent microfluidics and deep learning-integrated system. This platform deeply integrates core technologies of deep learning and microfluidics to enable high-throughput, high-precision automated analysis of oocyte membrane permeability. It provides a novel technological tool for optimizing and advancing the clinical translation of oocyte cryopreservation techniques. Additionally, it offers an innovative practical paradigm for the application of artificial intelligence in low-temperature biomedicine and reproductive medicine.
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On the afternoon of January 30, 2026, the Jinan Red Cross presented a letter of special significance to the Shandong Yinfeng Life Science Public Welfare Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the Yinfeng Foundation).
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In the future, Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute will continue to uphold its mission of "Dedicated to Medical Technology, Safeguarding Human Health." It will empower brand building with more original and pioneering scientific and technological achievements, contributing wisdom and strength to Shandong's goal of building a national regional innovation hub and promoting Chinese brands on the global stage.
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Currently, the ovarian tissue dual activation technology has been successfully applied in clinical practice at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Shenzhen (Longgang) Hospital, having treated over 400 patients with a treatment success rate of 70%. Over the next three years, Shandong Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute plans to use Jinan as a center to gradually expand the transformation and application of this technological achievement nationwide.
According to the latest announcement from the International Society of Cryobiology, Professor Xu Yi from the School of Health Science and Engineering at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, and a member of the Yinfeng Cryomedicine Expert Committee, has been elected as a Board Governor of the Society for a three-year term (2026–2028). The election was conducted through a democratic vote by all members worldwide, with three new Board Governors elected. Professor Xu Yi is the only scholar from Asia elected to the Society’s Board of Governors this time and the third elected scholar from mainland China in the Society’s 60-year history.
The significance of life extension lies not only in technological breakthroughs but also in the shared belief of every individual who believes in "a better future." With faith as their torch, these fellow travelers join hands, pooling their strength to stride forward together. We firmly believe that as this steadfast support converges into a powerful force, it will propel the Yinfeng Life Extension Plan to gain broader attention, inject continuous momentum into the development of cryobiomedicine, and illuminate the next chapter of human civilization.
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